Historical Events on October 15

1529: The Turks who are trying to invade Vienna are routed by the Austrians during the Siege of Vienna. This ends almost a century of conquest by the Ottoman Empire throughout Europe.

1582: Due to the recent implementation of the Gregorian Calendar, this day doesn’t exist in 1582 in parts of Italy, Poland, Spain and Portugal.

1764: As Edward Gibbon watches some friars singing in the decrepit Temple of Jupiter in Rome, he is struck with inspiration and immediately begins work on “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.”

1783: The first human ascent in a tethered hot air balloon is by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier.

1793: Queen Marie Antoinette of France is tried, convicted and condemned to death in a trial in Palais de Justice in Paris, France. She’s scheduled to be executed the following day.

1815: The exile of Napoleon I of France begins on this day on Saint Helena.

1864: Glasgow, Missouri is surrendered to the Confederacy after the Battle of Glasgow Missouri is conducted during the American Civil War.

1878: Edison Electric Light Co. goes into operation on this day.

1888: Investigators in London who are investigating the Jack the Ripper murders receive a letter signed “From Hell” and half a kidney that is supposedly from Jack the Ripper himself.

1965: An anti-war rally is staged in Manhattan by the Catholic Worker Movement. During this rally, draft cards were burnt – which led to people being arrested under a new amendment to the Selective Service Program.

1966: Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton create the Black Panther Party.

1970: 35 workers are killed when a portion of the West Gate Bridge in Melbourne, Australia collapses.